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“I will do anything you want me to.” He couldn’t hide the desperation in his voice, and as my conscience started edging to the side of feeling sorry for him, I quickly reminded myself of how embarrassed I’d been over the last week. “Hell, I’ll even run around naked across campus with only my glove on if that would make you help me.”
My brows furrowed. “Stealing hockey player traditions to gain clout with me? Yeah, not going to work. Sorry. I’m tapped out,” I said, and his shoulders dropped as he covered his face and let out a low growl before banging the table in frustration. I rolled my eyes at his dramatics. There were other tutors in this school that would willingly take him on, so I didn’t know why he was hell-bent on studying with me.
As I packed away my things, I heard him mumble something, but I couldn’t hear it, so I chose to ignore it. With his elbows resting on the picnic table, he threaded his hands through his hair, and pulled at the loose strands as he looked at his lap. He was still talking to himself, so I took him out of his misery.
“What was that? I didn’t hear you.”
“You’re my only hope.” It was barely a whisper, but his tone resonated with me. “I’ve tried everything else to maintain my grades. I’ve studied for hours on end, but nothing goes in. I had a tutor, Derek, who started helping me, but he left so quickly that I don’t feel I got the benefits of his advice. I just need someone to help me make sense of the words and concepts.”
I’d stopped packing my stuff away when he started the speech because, for the first time since I met him, I felt sorry for him. It did sound like Ralph may have screwed him over, but Ralph did that to me all the time, and I shouldn’t have to constantly clean up after him.
“I’m sure there are plenty of other tutors out there that would want to work with you. You don’t need me.”
“Idoneed you.”
“Well, I need to stay away from athletes. They only cause me trouble.”
He scrunched his face. “What are you talking about?”
I shouldn’t have said anything. “It doesn’t matter,” I sniped back, grabbing my bag and throwing one leg over the bench.
“No, wait. I think it does.” His voice had perked up now, and he pointed a finger at me. “You know, Ralph mentioned something the other day about you, and now you’re tarnishing me with the playboy athlete brush.”
“Please. I’m not painting you with any kind of brush. You did that yourself.”
“And I’ve apologized several times. So tell me, what is it about athletes you hate so much.”
As I swung my other leg out from under the bench, I stood and looked down at him. “This,” I said pointedly. He raised a brow, waiting for me to elaborate. “The arrogance. The entitlement. The belief that the world should stop, and everyone should cater to you just because you’re lucky enough to have a scholarship.” I rested my palms against the table and leaned in. “I don’t need to help you, and you’ve got nothing I want.”
“If this is about money, I’ll happily pay you.”
“No.”
“What about tickets to games? Do you want those?”
“I thought I made it clear. I don’t give a crap about sports.”
“A car? I’ll give you a car?”
“I already told you; you have nothing I want, and as riveting as this conversation is, I’ve got things to do.” I didn’t bother looking back at him as I walked straight to my dorm, because I could feel his eyes on me. I knew he was watching my every step intently, and I didn’t care. I’d made a vow to myself that I would never help him after he embarrassed me. Instead, I added a little sass to my walk, for fun.
Chapter 5
It took everything in me to open my eyes and look at my screen. Every time I thought I’d built up enough courage, I couldn’t do it. It was like they were glued together. I was being stupid. I already knew my fate, and sitting here for the better part of an hour with my eyes closed was going to do nothing to change it.
Muffled footsteps walked past my door as my roommates got ready for our gym session at six. Fuck. If they were up, it meant I’d been sitting here foroveran hour, drawing out my punishment.
Screw it.
I blew out my breath. I was a big boy. If I could throw a ball accurately while linebackers twice my size tried to take me down, I could handle this. It was just a screen with my respective grades on it. How bad could it be?
I opened my eyes.
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